My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Leader, the Phoenix fiasco has been causing errors and injustices for years. However, according to the CBC, the government is trying to recover debts that fall outside the limitation period by having the Canada Revenue Agency withhold tax refunds, including those of retirees who no longer have access to their old pay information or proof of overpayments. The letters and testimony that have emerged suggest that the government is circumventing the limitation period. How can the government justify using the CRA’s Individual Refund Set-Off Program to withhold tax refunds in order to recover alleged overpayments from the Phoenix fiasco?

I see that you understand my concern. Will the government therefore order the immediate suspension of collection measures, particularly against retirees, until it can demonstrate, with supporting evidence, that these amounts are indeed due and legally collectible, instead of forcing vulnerable individuals to acknowledge, against their will, a debt that does not exist or that has expired due to the limitation period?